11

Dean Josiah Cover, also known as Inflo, has been working for several years with the most mysterious band in Black music. On November 11, 2022, the band released five albums for free on its website. 11 comes off like a blend between Rotary Connection, Exuma, Sade, and a lesser known Fela offshoot. Sounds like a small band knocking out demos, one by one, bubbly and inspired.

The fourth of five albums Sault released in 2022 and their ninth since 2019, is a collection of Black music blends, hybridising dub-disco, punk-funk, soul, afrobeat and R’n’B. Some of their 2022 albums focused on one specific aspect of the Sault sound — Air was dramatic, expansive choral and orchestral, Today and Tomorrow was gnarly, stark, fuzz punk-funk — but 11 is slightly less single-mindedly focused, including skeletal indie-funk, gritty soul and sweet murmuring R’n’B. 

The sound is direct, intimate and has a live feel, imbued with a sense of the past: the drums feel greasy, the reverb sounds dusty, while the amps, surely, must be vintage, and there’s a pleasantly loose demo-feel to much of it. Perhaps this album’s particular focus is melody, as although 11 has its haunting moments, it’s perhaps one of Sault’s warmest and most welcoming albums.